K-3 DA 55-300 PLM
ƒ8, ISO 100

From where I was sitting I could see this bird flying back and forth from a nest hole, storing food, which enabled me to get multiple shots of a behaviour being repeated over and over again. Which made it possible for me to document the whole behaviour.

How to get food it you are a nuthatch?

Find a branch from where you can evaluate the landscape.


Look up.


Check the nearby bushes for competitors.


Look down... oh boy goodies.


OK, going for the goodies...




Pay dirt.

[Larrymc]

Impressive images, Norm!! Were you in a blind and on a tripod with these?

[bertwert]

Excellent series Norm, glad you shared it

[normhead]

Impressive images, Norm!! Were you in a blind and on a tripod with these?

I keep telling you guys, taming the birds at Cameron Road AP is a communal effort involving probably hundreds of photographers. There is no formal support, except the Park heard from us last year when they didn't plow Cameron Road and we all had to walk in on snow shoes, so they are plowing it again this year. You won't see anything like the up in your face reaction of birders denied their usual shooting locations. We all went to the visitors centre and let the head cahuna know what we thought. These folks come by the hundreds and pay 15$ a day to come, and they can't plow 3 km of road for us? Ridiculous.

I should also give credit to the 10s of photographers who like myself did the 6 km hike on snow shoes last year to keep the birds fed an active, and in the area. The day I was first after a snow and had to break trail was shall we say invigorating, but other times someone else was in ahead of me and it was easy peasy, except for the part where you carry heavy camera gear for 6km on snow shoes.

If you check the exif you'll see I wasn't at full reach for most of these. I create a scene a couple feet off the ground in the snow banks left by the plow, packed down by a shovel I carry in the back of the car. I take a branch I've cut in the bush, sharpen the end and stick it into the more solid part of the bank. The I spread the a pound of bird seed on the area I packed down with the shovel. Then I sit down in my chair, 8 feet away and try and move as little as possible.


There were 5 other photogrphers with similar set ups within a 50 meters of me. Almost all of whom spent 20 time as much money as I did for their gear. But, this is what I've found. The closer the better in terms of IQ. If you can get away with a shorter smaller lens, you have much more flexibility. The DA 55-300 PLM is the best lens going for this. If I go back today and just took images of photographers doing their thing, from the three places on my usual route, I could photograph at least 10 other photographers and porobably more than $100k in gear. When I'm near these guys with th long lenses they are always complaining I'm "in the way", so I always carve out my own spot.

So short answer,
Gear
shovel and chair to sit in (and really warm clothes.)

Pocket knife to sharpen the end of the stick I put in the snow right above the area where I spread my bird seed.

A couple pounds of mixed seeds and nuts.

That's it.

You do have to sit still, when you are that close, (and or that reason we all tend to carve out our own spots, more people means more sudden movements) any sudden movement will spook the birds, but they return over and over so even spooking them rarely costs you images. You always get another chance.

Until my shoulder gets a bit stronger, I'm currently unable to maintain my usual back yard blind, so no yardbirds images for me this year.

---------- Post added 01-31-21 at 11:18 AM ----------

Excellent series Norm, glad you shared it

Thanks Bert.... always good to here from you dude.

---

Last edited by normhead; 01-31-2021 at 10:17 AM.

[reh321]

So short answer,
Gear
shovel and chair to sit in (and really warm clothes.)

Pocket knife to sharpen the end of the stick I put in the snow right above the area where I spread my bird seed.

A couple pounds of mixed seeds and nuts.

That's it.

You do have to sit still, when you are that close, (and or that reason we all tend to carve out our own spots, more people means more sudden movements) any sudden movement will spook the birds, but they return over and over so even spooking them rarely costs you images. You always get another chance..

Yes, most birds can quickly become accustomed to almost anything that moves little and is quiet - although I do personally do most of my observing from the comfort {and warmth} of our living room, with the cost of getting less detail than you do as the light has to penetrate the glass door.

I personally like your last three photos - they show the typical pose of a Nuthatch ..... only they and squirrels can stand face down and make it look so natural.

[normhead]

It's is quite interesting watching the behaviours. We used to have bird feeders on our porch years ago. Then we had a rather serious moue infestation. The images were softer at that time, but part of that was the Sigma 70-300 I was shooting with.

[Larrymc]

I keep telling you guys, taming the birds at Cameron Road AP is a communal effort involving probably hundreds of photographers. There is no formal support, except the Park heard from us last year when they didn't plow Cameron Road and we all had to walk in on snow shoes, so they are plowing it again this year. You won't see anything like the up in your face reaction of birders denied their usual shooting locations. We all went to the visitors centre and let the head cahuna know what we thought. These folks come by the hundreds and pay 15$ a day to come, and they can't plow 3 km of road for us? Ridiculous.

I should also give credit to the 10s of photographers who like myself did the 6 km hike on snow shoes last year to keep the birds fed an active, and in the area. The day I was first after a snow and had to break trail was shall we say invigorating, but other times someone else was in ahead of me and it was easy peasy, except for the part where you carry heavy camera gear for 6km on snow shoes.

If you check the exif you'll see I wasn't at full reach for most of these. I create a scene a couple feet off the ground in the snow banks left by the plow, packed down by a shovel I carry in the back of the car. I take a branch I've cut in the bush, sharpen the end and stick it into the more solid part of the bank. The I spread the a pound of bird seed on the area I packed down with the shovel. Then I sit down in my chair, 8 feet away and try and move as little as possible.


There were 5 other photogrphers with similar set ups within a 50 meters of me. Almost all of whom spent 20 time as much money as I did for their gear. But, this is what I've found. The closer the better in terms of IQ. If you can get away with a shorter smaller lens, you have much more flexibility. The DA 55-300 PLM is the best lens going for this. If I go back today and just took images of photographers doing their thing, from the three places on my usual route, I could photograph at least 10 other photographers and porobably more than $100k in gear. When I'm near these guys with th long lenses they are always complaining I'm "in the way", so I always carve out my own spot.

So short answer,
Gear
shovel and chair to sit in (and really warm clothes.)

Pocket knife to sharpen the end of the stick I put in the snow right above the area where I spread my bird seed.

A couple pounds of mixed seeds and nuts.

That's it.

You do have to sit still, when you are that close, (and or that reason we all tend to carve out our own spots, more people means more sudden movements) any sudden movement will spook the birds, but they return over and over so even spooking them rarely costs you images. You always get another chance.

Until my shoulder gets a bit stronger, I'm currently unable to maintain my usual back yard blind, so no yardbirds images for me this year.

---------- Post added 01-31-21 at 11:18 AM ----------



Thanks Bert.... always good to here from you dude.

Norm, ain't no way I'm sitting my skinny butt outside in below freezing temperatures for several hours. You've got my admiration, my man! Luckily I can sit on my patio and grab some shots of the birds at our feeders. It takes 25 to 30 minutes before our skittish Titmice, Chickadees and Cardinals to get acclimated but they do come back to feed and relax and ignore me. Now I just need to move a bit closer and grab some shots.

[JensE]

Thanks for the detailed description, I'll give it a try in our backyard.

If you check the exif you'll see I wasn't at full reach for most of these.

You'd have to be so generous to include focal length in the Exif for that :-)

[normhead]

Thanks for the detailed description, I'll give it a try in our backyard.


You'd have to be so generous to include focal length in the Exif for that :-)

If you click on the image (to take you to Flickr) and go down the page you'll find the four main exposure metrics.

---------- Post added 02-02-21 at 09:34 PM ----------

Norm, ain't no way I'm sitting my skinny butt outside in below freezing temperatures for several hours. You've got my admiration, my man! Luckily I can sit on my patio and grab some shots of the birds at our feeders. It takes 25 to 30 minutes before our skittish Titmice, Chickadees and Cardinals to get acclimated but they do come back to feed and relax and ignore me. Now I just need to move a bit closer and grab some shots.

I have quilted outdoor overalls and a pillow for your butt, we can set you up.

[pichaser]

Your work is beautiful , based on understanding photography and nature . Your neck o' the woods is to be envied , thanks .

[normhead]

Your work is beautiful , based on understanding photography and nature . Your neck o' the woods is to be envied , thanks .

Moving here when I retired was the one of the smartest things I ever did.

[LightSpeed]

Beautiful exposures Norman.
Anything with a white background or foreground is difficult. Nailed it up pretty good.

[Sailor]

Terrific series, Norm.

Jer

[MikeNArk]

As said before, terrific series, great pictures, and good description of your process for obtaining these shots. I've never seen that many nuthatches together.

[SSGGeezer]

AS always, a very noce series Norm! Hope the shoulder is progressing nicely and that summer finds you paddling as usual..